By Tina Comeau
THE VANGUARD
NovaNewsNow.com
When the provincial government decided not to provide any more funding to the Cat ferry, many people said it should have waited for the release of an ACOA transportation study before making its decision.
But now that the study has been released, Economic Development Minister Percy Paris says it wouldn’t have changed the government’s position, even though the study makes a strong case for continued ferry service in this end of the province.
“The report reaffirms things that we already knew with respect to ferry service in the southwest region,” Paris told the Vanguard in an interview last week.
But Paris said his conviction around the Cat has also been reaffirmed, even though the study still looked at high-speed ferries as scenarios for ferry service in Yarmouth.
“It reaffirms my conviction around the business case for the Cat ferry, that there wasn’t a business case to it, that it would never be viable and that it did indeed cost taxpayers millions of dollars, which wasn’t going to stop if it was continued,” he said.
Paris said decision on the Cat was not an overnight decision. Despite the fact the news came as a shock and surprise the community, Paris said it was vetted around many tables. He said a month after being sworn in as minister in June 2009, questions had already started swirling about the Cat ferry service.
“The subsidy wasn’t meant to last forever,” he said.
One thing the study does say is not only are ferries vital to the region’s economy, but you should also expect that they will require subsidies to operate.
In the recent Yarmouth byelection, in a response to a letter sent to Paris by one of the candidates, Paris had written, “At this point we are not in the position to look at funding directed towards another ferry service.”
Asked about that statement, and the issue of subsidies, Paris said, “I, as the minister, am willing to look at anything that makes sense. So any proposal that comes in front of this government under the banner of economic and rural development or tourism, culture and heritage . . . will be looked at and they will be measured on their own merit.
“But do we have any intent of initiating a ferry out of Yarmouth? I can say at this point in time, without any hesitation, no we do not.”
Paris said if the private sector wants to come forward with a proposal, the government would look at it. But it has to be a sound business plan.
“If you want something from government, come to me with something with the T’s crossed and the I’s dotted,” he said.
Meanwhile, Paris is extremely optimistic that good things will happen for Yarmouth. He said the federal and provincial initiatives of Team West and Team South West bode well for Yarmouth and he said when the province advertises Yarmouth it is talking about the area as a place to go, a destination.
“That’s what we should have been doing all along,” he said.
As for the transportation study, Paris said what the study does is provide some information that will be required as we look to the future and make decisions on all transportation infrastructure.
For his part, Argyle MLA Chris d’Entremont says the study confirms something that he and others have known all along – that removing the ferry service would only hurt the people of Yarmouth.
“I am not interested in saying, ‘I told you so.’ The study speaks for itself,” he said in a news release. “I am more concerned with the next steps and how this government plans to deal with the issue.”
D’Entremont said in December when the province ended the Cat subsidy, the premier said he was waiting on the study before making any more decisions on the future of Yarmouth.
“We have the study, and it clearly shows that links to New England and New Brunswick are crucial to the region’s transportation system and economy,” d’Entremont said. “If this government is seriously concerned with the economy, I would expect them to have a plan in place to deal with the growing concerns we have in Yarmouth County.”
